Uploaded on 2016-08-30 by Nyssa

Based on the four the economics of ecosystems and biodiversity definition of four types of ecosystem services, I explored within 5km of my home in Calgary, Alberta to find an example of each. a. Provisioning services: the Bow River flows through Calgary (and actually comes through my other home in Canmore, Alberta). The river has amazing quality glacial water coming from the rocky mountains, just to the west of us. It provides life and fresh water to the people and animals along the river. It flooded a few years ago, causing the most expensive natural disaster in Canadian history at that point (2013 - since then there have been wild fires in Fort McMurray this year, which has become the most expensive). The flood of this river caused $1.72 billion dollars in insured damage. The quality of the drinking water in my city is amazing, I especially appreciate it when I come back from traveling to places where the drinking water quality is not as good. There is also a lot of life in the river that provides food for the rest of the ecosystem. This photo is from a running path bridge less than 4km from my home (and the running path connects my house to this place). b. Regulating services: the photo in the top right corner is my street. We have a lot of old trees along our block that shade our street. These trees are old and the roots have also made their way into sewer systems, causing some issues. In addition, there have been unexpected hail/snow storms (which are more and more frequent every year), which weighs down the tree branches and sometimes causes the trees or branches to collapse. "Snowtember" happened two years ago and cost $47M dollars in damage and affected about 50% of the city's trees. I love the trees on our block but as we continue to add trees to the canopy for a multitude of reasons, we need to balance that with mitigating damage they can cause as well, just like the river! Obviously the trees help with carbon sequestration and storage, and help somewhat with rain storms and hail storms (when they don't knock down the trees). Trees along the water bank also help with erosion prevention of the river and maintenance of soil fertility. c. Habitat or supporting services: this birds nest is in our field behind the house. We create artificial habitats for animals and have a great zoo which is home to many animals - both wild birds that come and go, as well as the obvious permanent residents. Birds migrate in and out, as we do have 4 months of snow and winter, but they have a lot of places to live while they are here! Though not pictured here, out by our place in Canmore, they have built bridges over roadways to allow animals to cross and promote (hopefully) genetic diversity of species by not cutting them into zones with the same gene pool. d. Cultural services: there are a lot of green spaces in Calgary. The picture in the bottom right corner is the field directly behind our house (we back onto the field through our back alley). There are tennis courts, softball fields, soccer fields, and a lot of space for people to walk and run. It promotes recreation and mental and physical health, as well as providing aesthetically pleasing surroundings and a place for spiritual experience and sense of place - connection with nature. Doing this project really made me appreciate all of the amazing qualities of the city (cities) I live in.